Knitting



June 7, E. O. NEBEL KNITTING Original Filed June 5 1930 2 shets -sh'et l ZZ Z.

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Patented June 7, 1932 ERNST OSCAR REBEL, 0F HATBOBQ, PENNSYLVAN KNITTING:

Original application filed June 5, 1930,

This application is a division of a copending application Serial Number 459,340, filed June 5, 1930.

This invention relates to the manufacture of full fashioned hosiery, the primary object of the invention being to improve the construction thereof insofar as the narrowing of the fabric is'concerned.

In the manufacture of full fashioned stockings it is customary in order to give shape to the leg portion of the stocking to lift, periodically, a plurality of the stitches adjacent the opposite edges of the stocking blank from the needles on which these stitches have been formed and to shog the transfer points inwardly with the lifted stitches thereon a distance equal to two needles, whereupon the transfer points are lowered and the stitches carried thereby are transferred on to the needles aligned therewith. The purpose of this operation is to provide at all times a selvage edge on the 4 oppositely disposed sides of the blank in order toprevent raveling of the fabric along its edges throughout the operations subsequent to the knitting of the stocking blank. The transfer of stitches a distance equal to two needles as above noted has disadvantages which are well known in the art, among them being the formation of large conspicuous openings known in the artas narrowing marks which extend parallel to the seam at the back of the stocking.

Another undesirable feature attending the transfer and consequent stretching of a stitch to the extent of two needles is that at times the transfer will not be accurate, due to the misalignment of the transfer points and the needles, and for other causes. One or more of the transferred stitches, therefore, will not be properly positioned on the needles of the machine, but due to the characteristics of the yarn such improperly transferred stitches frequently do not become apparent until the blank has been finished,

seamed and dyed, whereupon these stitches wil-l give way under the tension created by boarding the stocking and will start what I are-commonly known in the art as runners drop stitches. Defects of this kind if Serial No. 459,340. Divided and this application filed February Serial No. 518,268.

not of extreme proportions may be mended and the product sold as seconds, but it frequently occurs that the defect is so great that the stocking becomes a total loss.

The objects of my invention are to reduce the sizeof the narrowing marks to the point where they become practically nil, and in so doing to reduce the extent of stretching the stitches in the transfer operation, thereby reducing to a minimum the possibilities of making drop stitches which would cause runners in the stocking when placed on the form after dyeing.

In carrying out my improved process, I transfer the stitches to the extent of but one needle as compared with the two needles in the methods now used, but I accomplish a narrowing of the fabric to the extent of two needles each time, as will be fully disclosed hereinafter, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, of which:

Fig. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a fashioned stocking made in accordance with the principles of my invention; and

Figs. 2 to 5 inclusive diagrammatically illustrate various steps in the knitting of the stocking blank.

In the drawings, the needles of a knittingv machine are illustrated at 2, and the narrowing points operating at one side of a stocking blank are illustrated at 4. The thread guides 15, one of which is shown in the drawings, are carried in the usual manne on carrier bars, not shown.

The stocking blank is knit in the usual manner, being comprised as usual of successively formed courses of stitches. When narrowing of the stocking blank is to be effected a predetermined number of stitches w, m are picked off the needles 2, at each side of the stocking blank, by the transfer points 4, 4 respectively, as illustrated in Fig. 2; the

transfer points 4, 4 are then raised and subsequently shogged inwardly, crosswise of the fabric, to the extent of one needle, whereupon the points 4, 4 are again lowered to place the stitches carried thereby onto the needles next adjacent to those from which they had been respectively lifted by the narrowing or transfer points 4, 4, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

The thread guide 15 at this time is moved inwardly of the fabric to the extent of two needles, see Fig. 3, and then travels across the full complement of needles to lay the thread for the next course of stitches il lustrated at y, in Fig. 4.

On the return movement of the thread guide 15 it stops at the point above referred to, two needles inwardly form its previous point of stoppage, thus the needle on which the stitch w of the course 3 was formed receives no thread,and is, upon the subsequent operation ofthe needles in producing the course 3 knit off its needle, as shown in Fig. 4. p

The narrowing points 4, 4, as above noted, have moved inwardly to the extent of but one needle, while the thread guide 15 has moved inwardly to the extent of two needles, and in order to have the transfer points in correct position for the next narrowing operation, the narrowing points are again 'moved inwardly to the extent of but one needle, but during this supplementary inward movement they do not transfer stitches.

Operation of the machine continues to knit a predetermined number of courses of stitches without further narrowing, as disclosed in Fig. .5, until it is again desired to narrow the fabricto an additional extent, whereupon the sequence of operations above noted is again carried out.

V One means for actuating the needles and thread carrier in the manner above noted is clearly shown and fully described in the above mentioned co-pending application in view of which disclosure of such mechanism has been eliminated from this application.

When the blank is subsequently completed and the opposite edges thereof joined together by the usual seam Z formed by the usual type of seaming machine used in effecting this finishing operation the free stitches m are bound tightly within the seam and in that way prevent any runners from developing as a consequence of this dropped or knit-off stitch. In the finished stocking, therefore,

while the narrowing marks are not complete- 1y obliterated they are so reduced in size that they are not apparent to the casual observer, this being due to the fact that the transfer of the stitches in the narrowing operation amounted to but one needle as compared with the large conspicuous openings produced by the transfer of the stitches to two needles as is ordinarily done. By transferring these stitches but one needle, obvious,- ly the tension created by such transfer is 'materially less than that ordinarily accompanying the transfer of the stitches to the extent of two needles, therefore, neither the needles nor the narrowing points are flexed from their normal positions and a true alignment of the needles and narrowing points is,

, in parallel wales, a number of stitches in each of certain of said courses being displaced laterally to the extent of one wale, respectively, and certain of said courses including free stitches at their ends which are bound within the seam at the back of the stocking.

2. A method of producing full fashioned hosiery which comprises the knitting of successive courses of stitches and transferring a number of the stitches of certain of said courses laterally from the needles on which such stitches have been respectively formed to the needles next adjacent thereto, and knitting oil' the stitches formed at the ends of certain of the courses of which the fabric is composed to narrow the stocking fabric.

.ERNST OSCAR NEBEL. 

